News

The Board of Directors of LSTAR is pleased to announce that the Association has won the 2012 Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) Quality of Life Award. Like other Ontario real estate association/boards, LSTAR adheres to a Quality of Life philosophy, supporting growth that fosters economic vitality, provides housing opportunities, respects the environment and builds good communities and safe neighbourhoods. The award goes to the Association that has most actively worked over the course of a year to improve the Quality of Life in its community.

The Board of Directors of LSTAR congratulates Doug Pedlar, its 2013 President, on having won the prestigious 2012 Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) Volunteer Leader Award. This award recognizes an individual who has played an important role or addressed a major issue or challenge facing his or her association over the past year.

Although home sales exceeded those of January 2013 by 138 units, 2013 continued to be slow out of the gate in February, with 448 detached homes exchanging hands – down 10.4% from February 2012 – and 128 condos – down 6.6%. Altogether sales were down 9.6% from the previous year.

2012 shaped up to be a balanced year for the local real estate market. We saw slightly fewer sales than we did in 2011, but also fewer listings. Watch this video report of the 2012 President of the London and St. Thomas Association of REALTORS®, Barb Whitney, as she analyzes the market activity during her year in office.

The London and St Thomas Association of REALTORS® held its sixteenth annual Homes for Hope® Bonspiel on January 19, 2013 at the Ilderton Curling Club.

2013 got off to a slow start, with 438 homes trading hands in January, down 3.5% from the previous January. “We're expecting a fairly flat, but stable market over the next year and these sales figures are pretty much in line with that," comments Doug Pedlar, President of the London and St. Thomas Association of REALTORS®. “Besides, January has never been a great month for real estate. Looking ahead, we have the Spring market and that will give us a better idea of how 2013 will shape up.”

The Board of Directors of LSTAR congratulates Member Josip Mrkoci upon being awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Award, created to mark the 60th anniversary of Her Majesty's accession to the throne.

The London and St. Thomas Association of REALTORS® (LSTAR) celebrated Christmas in 2012 with donations to its principal beneficiaries.

A total of 8,020 homes traded hands in 2012, 28 fewer units than the 8,048 homes sold in 2011. "That's a difference of only 0.3%," says Barb Whitney, 2012 President of LSTAR, "very marginal and just what we expected from our market, which has proven itself once again to be steady, reliable and balanced. As far as LSTAR goes, 2012 has been a very satisfactory year for real estate in our jurisdiction."